Special Education Resources

Are you looking for a new intervention to reach your students in special education? This page pulls together many of the resources that we have geared towards children with specific learning disabilities, auditory processing disorders (APD), dyslexia, specific language impairment, and autism. You'll find results and case studies, blog posts, and webinars that will give you a more comprehensive understanding of how Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant can help you improve learning for these students.

School & District Results

The following special education results were provided by the schools/districts based on their experience in working with Fast ForWord and/or Reading Assistant.

Working memory improvements helped all students make AYP (Haines Borough, AK)View case study

Summary: This is a review of studies that have explored the neural basis of behavioral changes induced by auditory or phonological training in dyslexia, specific language impairment (SLI), and language-learning impairment (LLI). [Fast ForWord] Training has been shown to induce plastic changes in deficient neural networks.

DyslexiaThe Stanford Study: Neural deficits in children with dyslexia ameliorated by behavioral remediation: Evidence from functional MRIView research

Harvard Research: Children with developmental dyslexia were able to literally rewire their brain through computerized sound trainingView research

Summary: Relative to the NoTx control group, children receiving [Fast ForWord] training showed increases in standardized measures of receptive language. In addition, children receiving training showed larger increases in the effects of attention on neural processing following training relative to the NoTx control group.

Summary: After Fast ForWord use, children with language learning impairment (LLI) showed improved language skills and changes in patterns of neural activity that indicate “a change in cognitive control strategies.” This is consistent with other recent neuroscience studies on children with and without LLI (Stevens et al., 2008) and children with dyslexia (Temple et al., 2003). All of these studies suggest that the improved language and literacy performance seen after Fast ForWord use may result from better application of attentional and memory resources.

Summary: The authors concluded that measures of brain wave efficiency are not only correlated with auditory processing problems in children with language-based learning disabilities, but that the Fast ForWord Language program improves at least one measure of the brain wave efficiency and that is in turn correlated with improvements both in rapid auditory processing accuracy and also language skills.

Fast ForWord/Reading Assistant research summary that highlights selected studies and reportsView research summary

Recommended Webinars

Autism: New Research and InterventionsPresenter: Martha Burns, Ph.D.Length: 60 minutes

New research on the underlying neurology of autism is exploding as is information on the most effective interventions available to drive positive neurological changes in children on the autism spectrum. Join Dr. Martha Burns as she discusses the new research and shares data on neuroscience-based interventions that have been shown to enhance language, attention, and social skills in children on the autism spectrum.

October is Dyslexia Awareness Month! Join us to learn about the latest research on the processing weaknesses and early indicators in dyslexia. Most importantly, find out how to use this information to help your students. See a demonstration of the evidence-based Fast ForWord software.

New Science of Learning for Special EducationPresenter: Martha Burns, Ph.D.Length: 45 minutes

Dr. Burns discusses the ability of neuroscience to profoundly impact education. Hear how the science of learning has guided the development of breakthrough technologies to enhance underlying memory, attention, processing and sequencing abilities in your students.

Auditory processing disorders can be traced to specific regions of the brain, especially regions of the brainstem. Find out how targeted intervention resulted in better listening skills and improved brainstem response to speech.

Your most struggling student just isn’t listening – again. But could there be more to it? Auditory processing disorders can look a lot like inattention, and it’s not easy to tell the difference. Why is it so hard to figure out what’s going on?

What if there were a way to predict dyslexia, so that affected children could receive earlier intervention? Recent research may have found a way to do just that—by looking at differences in the brain before children learn to read.